


Damian Wayne is an Alpha (But it's Complicated)

by kikanawj



Series: A/B/O Batfamily [2]
Category: Batman - All Media Types, DCU
Genre: A/B/O, Alpha Damian Wayne, Alpha Tim Drake, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Damian Wayne-centric, Exploration of Alpha/Beta/Omega world building, Hand wavy science, Non-Traditional Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Omega Bruce Wayne, Omega Dick Grayson, but it's complicated, suppressants
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-12
Updated: 2020-06-12
Packaged: 2021-03-04 05:08:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,211
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24678187
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kikanawj/pseuds/kikanawj
Summary: Damian comes to terms with what his identity means, in his father's house, in his new life outside of the league. He also learns more about his family and how stereotypes never hold up to reality.
Relationships: Bruce Wayne & Damian Wayne, Tim Drake & Damian Wayne
Series: A/B/O Batfamily [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1764031
Comments: 1
Kudos: 122





	1. When science isn't black and white

“Damian, we need to talk about your blood test.”

Damian raised an eyebrow, “You said we were all clear on the toxin scans.”

“I did,” Bruce nodded, “But a discrepancy in your hormone levels caught my attention.”

Damian scowled, “I feel fine.”

“That’s….even more worrying,” Bruce beckoned him forward, “I’d like to go over what showed up on the first test and take another sample, to pinpoint the anomaly.”

Damian turned his eyes to the screen, “What am I looking at?”

“Well, the first test wasn’t designed to look for hormone levels, as you know, but look here,” Bruce pointed to a spike in the line, “If we were looking for say, Ivy’s spores, then these elevated hormone levels would be a strong indicator.”

“But we were dealing with Crane’s fear toxin.”

“I know. Which is why I’d like to do a more in depth test that will sort out just what hormones are so high in your system.”

Damian frowned at the screen, “Is it dangerous? Those levels?”

Bruce sighed, “Not on their own. But they are very unusual, especially for someone your age who hasn’t truly presented yet.”

Damian bristled, “I’m an Alpha. Like my mother and grandfather.”

Bruce held back a further sigh, “You probably are. But, again, because you haven’t presented yet, DNA and blood tests can only tell us so much. Because usually the hormones present are much lower than this.”

Damian considered that, “So this could be an indication that I am beginning to present?”

“It might be.”

“And this further testing would confirm my type designation?”

“If that’s what’s causing these readings, then yes.”

Damian straightened his spine and nodded, “That is acceptable.”

Twenty minutes later they were reviewing the results.

“Not to alarm you,” Bruce began in an evenly controlled tone of voice, “But I have never seen readings like this before.”

Damian scowled at the graph, “What’s wrong?”

Bruce clenched his jaw and sorted the results into categories, “Well, take a look at these two groups. All of these here in this first group are known to cause vasodilation, or the widening of blood vessels. While all of these in this second group are known to cause vasoconstriction, which is the tightening of blood vessels. And as you can see, your body is producing a lot of both. You’ve got the same thing going on with ones that suppress hunger and slow the digestive system, and ones that increase digestion. Almost all of your readings are above normal, even in areas that should be counter intuitive of each other.”

Damian was quiet for a moment.

“What does that mean for my type designation?”

Bruce rubbed at his face. He sent the graph into a new configuration, “Okay. So, according to modern science these three groupings here, in red, white, and green, indicate the hormone groups used to determine type designation. Red for Alpha, White for Omega, and Green for Beta. And that line along the middle is the threshold. If a person has more than half of those groups at levels above the threshold line for any one type, then that indicates which type they are.”

Damian’s eyes scanned the read out. His hands clenched into fists.

“By those metrics I’m every type.”

Bruce held up a hand, “While I haven’t ever seen a single person qualify as all three, there are some well documented cases of people appearing by these standards as more than just one type. So the general agreed upon medical classification is a process of elimination. If one of the types you appear as is Alpha, you would be identified as Alpha by default. If you appear as both Beta and Omega, but not Alpha, then you are identified as Omega by default.”

“So I’m an Alpha.” Damian said, his shoulders settling with the statement.

“By the current medical identification practices, yes.” Bruce looked at the graph again, “But I think there might be something more at play here. Most teenagers don’t have consistent hormone levels this high. And the fact that opposing effects are happening concurrently at these elevated levels…..it paints a picture of your body being under an abnormal amount of stress.”

“I feel fine.” Damian huffed.

“So that means this,” Bruce waved at the screen, “Is your normal. Which only makes me more worried. This is effecting every single cell in your body. At an age where you should be well below a quarter of these levels.”

Damian stared at the screen. He clenched his jaw.

“I hesitate to suggest this, and I will ask Leslie for a second opinion before we proceed in any course,” Bruce reached out and put his hand on Damian’s shoulder, “But would you consider going on suppressants?”

Damian snarled and pulled away from him, “Of course not! How could you even- I am not some weakling Omega who cannot master their own body! I am fine!”

Bruce’s jaw clenched and he let his outstretched hand drop. “Taking suppressants has very little to do with being an Omega or being unable to master your own body. I understand there are some very negative cultural ideas attached to going on suppressants. I was not suggesting them out of some sense of seeing you as weak. I was suggesting them as a medical tool to help relieve your body of the stress it is under.”

Damian sneered, “Only weak Omegas have need of such….vile chemicals. To rely on them is a weakness, a vulnerability.”

“That is what the League taught you.” 

Damian scoffed, “Yes, but don’t act like they invented it. The healthcare in this country, in this city, markets suppressants towards Omegas and they sell them as the dirty little secrets they are. Don’t act like I’m just repeating what the League taught me. _ Discrete packaging, confidential prescriptions  _ \- there’s posters in my school’s nurse’s office saying such.”

Bruce took a step forward, “I’m not talking about using them as an added layer of birth control-” 

“I will not allow you to force me to-”

“I wouldn’t force you!” Bruce held up his hands, “Damian, I would  _ never _ force you to take suppressants. I am suggesting them.  _ Only _ suggesting.”

“Then we have no further need to speak of this.”

Damian hastily left the cave. He felt sick as he headed up into the manor and went straight for his room. His hands didn’t shake, because he wouldn’t let them. But they were clammy, and sleep did not come easy that night.


	2. Tim (and everything that entails)

“Hormone screen is an odd follow up to a fear toxin test.”

Bruce’s fingers paused as he finished the incident report from the night before. “You’re not supposed to snoop in other people’s medical files, Tim.”

“I haven’t. I recognize the file sorting code.” Tim pointed at the screen, “Just, seemed odd. What, did you think there were also Ivy spores in use last night?”

“No.”

Bruce kept typing. Tim pretended to look around the cave. He cleared his throat.

“Are you okay, B?”

“I’m fine.”

“You sure?”

“Yes, Tim.”

Tim absentmindedly popped his knuckles, one after the other.

“Is everyone else okay?”

“Okay enough to respect their medical privacy.”

Tim rolled his shoulders and cracked his neck.

“So I shouldn’t be concerned about something that had you concerned enough to put off finishing last night’s report until the next morning.” Tim stated, “Because someone has something going on with them, but it’s not….immediately life threatening?”

“Tim,” Bruce peeled his eyes from the computer and turned in the chair to face him, “If it was something to concern you with, I would tell you. Don’t hack the medical files. That’s an order.”

Tim put his hands up in surrender.

“Okay, okay. I won’t hack the medical files.”

-';;'-

“Titus! Titus, Drop it! Damian! Stop your giant fucking dog- TITUS, DO NOT EAT THAT! You dumb fucking dog- that will poison you!”

Damian came running out into the hall from the library. Tim was chasing Titus down the grand staircase. Titus had a plastic device in his mouth. It was shaped like a pill and as long as a pencil.

“Titus, stop.” Damian commanded.

The large dog stopped in his tracks at the bottom of the stairs.

“Drop it.”

Titus set the plastic container down. Tim hurried forward and picked it up. He unscrewed what appeared to be the cap and slid a needle out. Well, the barrel and plunger. The sharp needle didn’t seem to be attached.

“Please don’t be broken,” Tim muttered as he held it up to the light coming in the front hall windows. He turned the vial over, checking it. “Oh, thank god.”

Damian motioned with his hand and Titus trotted over to him.

“What were you trying to poison Titus with?”

Tim rolled his eyes, “You giant bear of a dog pushed open the bathroom door and swiped my suppressants right off the counter. It’s not my fault he thought this was a bone or a stick. It, on the other hand, is entirely your fault he knows how to open doors.”

Damian scowled at him. "You're a beta. Why would you be taking suppressants?"

Tim gave Damian a confused look, "I'm not a Beta. I take suppressants and people assume I'm a Beta.”

"You're an omega?"

Tim sighed, "No."

Damian scoffed. "Really, Drake. You, an alpha? Even if that were true- ridiculous- then why would you ever-?  _ Alphas _ don’t take suppressants."

"Yes they do,  _ I _ do. It helps my antidepressants work better.” Tim slid the medicine back into the container, “And it also keeps me from leaving a noticeable trace while out on patrol. Even beyond the suits’ scent-masking-tech. No alpha hormones, no alpha pheromones."

Damian just stared at him, incredulous. “Did father put you up to this?”

Tim raised both eyebrows, “To what- taking suppressants? No. My pharmacist suggested them to help with my meds. But B’s been taking them way longer than I have, so he was never weird about it.”

Damian felt like his stomach had dropped, “Father has been taking...what?”

“Suppressants.” Tim rolled his eyes, “Have you honestly not noticed? He hardly has any scent at all. An Omega as old as he is with no mating bond?”

Damian thought back to the argument he had had with his father. Thought back to the things he had said about  _ Omegas who took suppressants _ . Damian felt nauseous. How could he have been so stupid- so ignorant. Drake was right- it made no sense why Father had next to no scent. He had always assumed it was just because- because Father was the best kind of Omega. Like his mother had told him. Strong, independent, unyielding. He thought he simply didn’t- didn’t smell strongly of Omega because he had risen so far above what a weak Omega would be.

Of course, Grayson was also strong and independent, but he was kind. He was caring, and loved to hug people and loved to take care of people. He was an Omega, even with all his training, he was still a nurturing person. So of course  _ he _ smelled like a true Omega. 

But if- if Father didn’t have a strong Omega scent because he used suppressants- not because he was simply above such things, then why-?

Why was he not parental like Grayson? Why didn’t he hug his children- his true son? Why wasn’t he more nurturing? Why wasn’t he more caring like Grayson was? 

Or was he just not that way to Damian?

“Whoa, that was a serious face-journey there, Dames,” Tim’s voice brought Damian sharply out of his spiraling thoughts. “You okay?”

“Does Father hug you?”

Damian wanted to cut out his tongue. He shouldn’t have asked that. It made him sound so desperate. So weak.

Tim blinked at him, “Uh, not usually. I mean, he has, but it’s usually more of a special occasion thing? Like if I’m really sick, or on my birthday. He’s not really a hugger. Just in general.”

Damian took a centering breath. It wasn’t just him. He could stop irrationally panicking. He took another centering breath.

“Okay, you’re really starting to worry me now,” Tim looked down at the medicine in his hand, “Is this about suppressants? Are they- are they like a thing with you? Not- not in a bad way- I mean.  _ Ugh. _ I mean, do they make you uncomfortable?”

Damian clicked his tongue in annoyance, but thought better of trying to lash out at Drake. He wouldn’t be dissuaded now by a show of anger. If anything, it would make him look into the situation harder.

“I-” Damian bit back on his tone, forcing it to be more calm, “I was told certain things about them in….my  _ earlier _ education. I am, more recently, discovering that those things might not be entirely true.”

Tim offered him a half smile, “Unlearning shit’s never fun. I’d be okay talking about this more if you’d want to. But I’m sure you could ask Bruce about it too. He’s got way more experience with it.”

Damian nodded and used the lull in the conversation to leave. Titus followed at his heels. Damian ran himself through his breathing techniques as he led Titus out to the Manor grounds. He had a lot to think about.


End file.
